Pic request of engine compartment colors

[Usudno]

I'm torn on the treatment of my engine compartment. Part of me is thinking Sharkhide (which is on order) the other part is thinking color match the exterior (either lexus spectre mica or ford sonic blue) and a little devil inside of me is saying black rustoleum hammered paint.

I have a few samples of the hammered paint on alluminum panels. I used a aluminum specific etching primer and 3 coats of the black hammered paint it its tough and looks pretty good. I've seen several pictures of aluminum panels but none of the "straight from the factory milled" sharkhided (not sure if that's even a word) panels. If you would be so kind to toss up a photo of what you did and what you used i would appreciate it. I have looked through a few engine pic threads but the focus in those pictures is mainly motor so its hard to tell. Thanks for any help.


As a side note... what other parts should i be prepared to paint when my kit comes in?? I have black POR 15 on order as well. The rear end will get this treatment.

[phileas_fogg]

I used Rustoleum Hammer Tone Silver on my panels:

IMG_2514 by jhsitton, on Flickr

IMG_2245 by jhsitton, on Flickr


John

[Gumball]

The inside of my body is dry-brushed with Eastwood "alumi-blast" paint for the appearance of mill-fresh aluminum panels. The paint was applied after the inside was sanded and coated with Featherfill to smooth out the weave pattern. I even scored it in places with a disc grinder to give the appearance of being worked with a hammer.

The aluminum panels are just in the raw as provided by FFR.

Here's the inside of the fiberglass -



And here is an engine bay shot of the aluminum -

[Usudno]

I have a test panel with both black and silver rustoleum hammered paint and for some reason the silver doesn't look as nice. It may be the can but it didn't cover as well. The hammered look was more of bubbles with a void. Do you have any close pics?

[Usudno]

Chris how long have you had the car??? How do you keep the oxidation off?

[SingleMaltWSKY]

Chris - that's amazing work. Do you have any posts (or can you expand on) on the process in detail? Any more pics you can share?

[Gumball]

Chris how long have you had the car??? How do you keep the oxidation off?

My kit dates to Oct '09 and it's been on the road for two summers and 7,000 miles. Believe it or not, I just wipe the panels down every so often with a rag that has a little WD-40 on it.

[Gumball]

Chris - that's amazing work. Do you have any posts (or can you expand on) on the process in detail? Any more pics you can share?

Jonas - thanks for the kind words. Here's the link to my bodywork thread. There is a good amount of detail on how I did the inside of the body, but only the single pic and a short blurb on the dry-brushing of the inside with the aluma-blast paint.

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...chris+bodywork

[SingleMaltWSKY]

Jonas - thanks for the kind words. Here's the link to my bodywork thread. There is a good amount of detail on how I did the inside of the body, but only the single pic and a short blurb on the dry-brushing of the inside with the aluma-blast paint.

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showt...chris+bodywork

Excellent - I really like the colour of green you went with. On our coupe I'm considering a similar green with Wimbleton white stripes. Is that green custom?
Any more shots you have of how the interior panels came out with your faux-finish? Very cool idea.

Thanks for sharing!
J

[CraigS]

The hammered paint can vary quite a bit depending how many coats and how thick it is applied. I did my valve covers super thick and ended up w/ a very obvious hammered effect. I did an etching primer and 5 coats of paint. I let it dry at most 5 minutes between coats - just until it was tacky but not really dry. Each coat was thicker than the last.

[Usudno]

Thanks for the close up. After seeing gumball's picture, I think I'm leaning towards raw or sharkhide. Does anyone have a list of panels that need treatment as well as panels that need undercoating? I would like to get that rolling day 1 while we are taking inventory.

[GSides9]

We polished and sharkhided most of the footboxes and other underhood stuff. Those panels are starting to get some kind of corrosion under the sharkhide. We were careful following the directions, but it still could be our fault. The car isn't registered yet and hasn't been driven more than two miles. After drilling the floor pans and other panels exposed to road abuse, we marked where they attached to the frame and masked that off. That way undercoating would not affect the adhesive used to prevent the panels from vibrating loose. We'll see how it all works out.

Glen

[Usudno]

IF gumballs are just raw, that will be the second roadster that i have seen with no corrosion on the panels after several years. Both owners say that from time to time they wipe down visible panels with WD40. My car will be garage kept in south Louisiana. We don't have many rust problems here. I'm wondering if the oxidation is climate based or just meticulous maintainace is required in order to keep it at bay.

[AC Bill]

Personally, I like the old school race car look, that the riveted raw aluminium panels offer.
All my engine compartment aluminum panels have been left raw, and they still look fine, no signs of corrosion or that chalky look. And that's living within a mile of the Pacific ocean. The roadster is stored indoors (unheated), and never driven when roads are wet.

Other than a partial view of the foot boxes, and firewall, the panels are not really a big feature under the hood. The panels seem so predominant when your building the car, but once the engine is in, wiring, etc, attached, and the body is on, they are not quite as obvious any longer. Your average person wouldn't likely even take a second glance at them when you open the hood. They are usually checking out the engine. Dress that up if you want to impress..

Other builders will be your biggest critics, but the smart ones will keep any criticism to themselves..

[Usudno]

Thanks bill. That's what I'm thinking. I'm going to start a thread on engine compartment neatness. I'm a stickler for a nice clean organized engine compartment.

[Avalanche325]

I polished and Sharkhided. Polishing is a tremendous amount of labor for panels that you really don't see that much of. I don't know if I would do that again.
When using Sharkhide, take the instructions serious when they say to use a cotton baby diaper. I tried a microfiber cloth, and got a nice layer of fuzz. Lacquer thinner takes it off if you get silly. You basically get one swipe before it starts to go sticky.
I live at the beach in humid FL. Raw AL starts to corrode very quickly. So the panels need something where I live.

Just my opinion. Color matching looks good on a hot rod, not so much on a Cobra.

[Usudno]

Thanks for the opinion avalanche. I have the sharkhide comming. I may as well use it. I was going to allow my son to prime them and put the first coat of the hammered paint... now he may just stick to the undercoating lol.

[BEAR-AvHistory]

Not much shows with a COYOTE so I left most raw with black truck bed liner over self etching primer on the weather side. Firewall & foot boxes are covered with Thermo Tec heat barrier.

5000 miles on the clock & the rattle can TBL has not shown any type of wear. Car is driven daily all year round.

[Usudno]

Anyone have a list of panels that need Bedliner on the back side?

[AC Bill]

Anyone have a list of panels that need Bedliner on the back side?

Personally, wouldn't apply any bedliner, or undercoating till after all the panels are riveted in place. Takes a little masking, unless you use a brush on, but it will help to seal the panel seams, around the back of the cockpit area.

[Avalanche325]

You don't need bedliner on any panels, unless you are just trying to black them out. What people, me included, use bedliner for is to coat the underside of the body. That will help prevent stones from flying up in the wheel wells and putting a star in the paint from underneath.

I would use Sharkhide again. I am not sure I would polish the engine bay panels again. Huge effort, minor reward.

[Usudno]

My thought process was using bedliner would eliminate the pinging sound from rocks and debris under the car. Estecically the black would be nice and look finished. I understand the coating of the underside of the body. I have a gallon of hurculiner for that purpose.

[edwardb]

My thought process was using bedliner would eliminate the pinging sound from rocks and debris under the car. Estecically the black would be nice and look finished. I understand the coating of the underside of the body. I have a gallon of hurculiner for that purpose.

I've driven my Roadsters now for 5+ seasons and thousands of miles. I do full powder coat on my builds (including the underside) and rarely if ever hear pinging under the car. The underside of the body in the wheel well areas absolutely use bedliner or an undercoat of some kind. I also highly recommend similar material on the tire facing side of the splash guards. The balance has little/no value IMO. My powder coat in those areas looks as good as the day it was installed and is far easier to keep looking that way vs. if it had undercoat material.

[Hottrodder427]

I painted mine gold

[DadofThree]

I put bedliner on my panels that face the underside or the car. You'll need to sand them down to get some adhesion. I did it to black out the underside while also giving extra protection. From what, I don't know (I realize now). I used duraliner spray. About 4 cans so far. In addition to sanding, you'll also want them to cure for a few days in the sun before handling them. My first ones scratched away easily without sanding or curing. I might do it again because of cost savings over powdercoat. But that'd be the only advantage that I see so far. I don't have any experience with powdercoat, but I like how it looks on many builds that I've seen.

I will also be undercoating the wheel wells of the body. With that, I'll be using a brush/roller instead of spray.

[3yearplan]

106.JPG120.jpg

I went with a graphite gray powdercoat on the panels that would be visible. Turned out decent, very cost effective.

Mike

[GoDadGo]

Engine Bay.jpg

Black & Cleared Over Silver Rivets.

[Avalanche325]

My thought process was using bedliner would eliminate the pinging sound from rocks and debris under the car. Estecically the black would be nice and look finished. I understand the coating of the underside of the body. I have a gallon of hurculiner for that purpose.

The black bedliner actually had a dirty look to me. I would not use it for aesthetics. If you want black, I would powder coat the engine bay.